clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Fog of '09 - South Offenses

By Bill Connelly

Quarterbacks

  1. Oklahoma (Sam Bradford--for now; if not...?)
  2. Texas (Colt McCoy--for now; if not...John Chiles?)
  3. Oklahoma State (Zac Robinson)
  4. Baylor (Hot Tub Griffin III)
  5. Texas Tech (Taylor Potts)
  6. Texas A&M (Jerrod Johnson)

Obviously, there's a lot of "if" here.  If Bradford's gone, OU falls to #6 because they don't have another QB who's taken a single snap.  If McCoy's gone, you figure Chiles gets the first shot at the job, and while he's decent, UT still falls to #5 on this list.

Running Backs

  1. Oklahoma State (Kendall Hunter, Keith Toston)
  2. Oklahoma (DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown)
  3. Texas (Fozzy Whitaker, Vondrell McGee)
  4. Texas Tech (Baron Batch, Aaron Crawford)
  5. Baylor (Jay Finley, Jeremy Sanders)
  6. Texas A&M (Mike Goodson--for now; if not...Bradley Stephens?)

I firmly expect Goodson to go pro if he's healthy enough for the combine.  Even with him, though, it appears that every other South team has better depth at RB than ATM.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

  1. Oklahoma State (Dez Bryant, Damian Davis, DeMarcus Connor)
  2. Texas (Malcolm Williams, Dan Buckner, Brandon Collins)
  3. Texas Tech (Detron Lewis, Edward Britton, Tramain Swindall)
  4. Texas A&M (Jeff Fuller, Ryan Tannehill, Terrence McCoy)
  5. Oklahoma (Ryan Broyles, Brandon Caleb, Jameel Owens)
  6. Baylor (David Gettis, Ernest Smith, Kendall Wright)

I am 99.999% sure Michael Crabtree is going pro, so we're not even going to pretend with an "If he's still at Tech" scenario.  He's gone.  As are a lot of the other proven WRs in the South.  OSU ends up on top here, though Texas almost looks to have a better WR corps next year despite losing Cosby and Shipley.  OU's unit could be solid, and you know they have plenty of good recruits to plug in the holes, but losing Iglesias and Manny Johnson will hurt them.  Broyles could be a major stud, though.

Offensive Lines

  1. Texas (OT Adam Ulatoski, C Chris Hall, OT Kyle Hix)
  2. Oklahoma State (OT Russell Okung, OT Brady Bond, OG Andrew Lewis)
  3. Texas A&M (OT Michael Shumard, OG Evan Eike, C Kevin Matthews)
  4. Texas Tech (OT Marlon Winn, OG Brandon Carter, ...?)
  5. Oklahoma (OT Trent Williams, ...?)
  6. Baylor (OG James Barnard, C JD Walton, OG Chris Griesenbeck)

It might behoove Sam Bradford to seriously think about entering the NFL draft this coming year...as his stock could fall in the '10 draft after running for his life all season long in '09.  You know OU's O-line will still be reasonably competent, but this appears to be a 2005-esque rebuilding year for OU in the trenches.

South Offenses, 2009

  1. Oklahoma State (21)
  2. Texas (20)
  3. Oklahoma (15)
  4. Texas Tech (12)
  5. Texas A&M (9)
  6. Baylor (7)

You know Tech and OU (if Bradford comes back) will have competent offenses in 2009--they just will.  But continuity at OSU and UT appear to give them edges here.

If Colt McCoy goes pro

  1. Oklahoma State (22)
  2. Texas (17)
  3. Oklahoma (15)
  4. Texas Tech (13)
  5. Texas A&M (9)
  6. Baylor (8)

If Sam Bradford goes pro

  1. Oklahoma State (22)
  2. Texas (21)
  3. Texas Tech (13)
  4. Oklahoma (10)
  5. Texas A&M (10)
  6. Baylor (8)

If McCoy AND Bradford go pro

  1. Oklahoma State (23)
  2. Texas (18)
  3. Texas Tech (14)
  4. Oklahoma (10)
  5. Texas A&M (10)
  6. Baylor (9)

This does show the strength of the South--Baylor's got their most exciting QB, possibly ever, and ATM has a nice, young QB with some nice, young WRs...and they're still bringing up the rear in just about every scenario.

One thing's for certain: Mike Gundy better start googling "How to handle the hype" right now, because I see no way OSU isn't a preseason Top 6-8 team next year.

Next Up In Links